pftmy of &n\$x$n. 

^aj/ , S^j N3 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE SOWER 



AND THE SEED 



JOHN HALL, D. D. 




Presbyterian Board of Publication, 
2G5 CheBtnul 



?*>$, 



S\ 



te 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

JAMES DUNLAP, Treas. 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District 
of Pennsylvania. 



The Library 

OF C 

WASHINGTON 



STEREOTYPED BY 

JESPER HARDING, 

57 SOUTH THIRD STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 



TUSH W&WiABLE 



SOWER AND THE SEED. 



(3) 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 



CHAPTER I. 

" HEAR YE, THEREFORE, THE PARABLE OP THE SOWER." 

We have heard it : often heard it. 
The people to whom our blessed Lord 
first told the parable, had heard it when 
he said to them, " Hear ye the parable 
of the sower." But his meaning was 
— hear the explanation of it : attend to 
its lessons : apply it to your respective 
conditions, that you may know what 
reproof, or warning, or direction it has 
for you. Hear and understand ! hear 
1* (5) 



6 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

and perceive ! hear and apply ! Look 
at your hearts — at your conduct — and 
judge whether your case be described 
by the wayside, the stony-places, the 
thorns, or the good ground. 

And so the Divine voice summons 
you now, whether it finds you in the 
house, or by the sea-side, or in the field, 
not for the first time to listen to the 
parable of the Sower, but, it may be, 
for the very first time in your life, to 
find its application. to yourself. 

And in hearing this parable, we must 
be struck with the fact, that our Lord 
regarded what he termed "the word 
of the kingdom," to be the medium 
through which " the mysteries" of that 
kingdom are revealed to man. As seed 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. / 

is the means of harvest, the source of 
the product — as there is no grain, nor 
flour, nor bread, unless the seed has 
been first planted, so, our Lord teaches 
us that " the word" is the first means 
of causing men to hear, understand, be 
converted, healed and saved. That is, 
there are truths which we must know 
and act upon, in order to be brought 
into the kingdom of heaven. We can- 
not enter it by forms and signs, by 
mechanism or motion, by wishing and 
consenting to enter it. We cannot enter 
it as we go on a journey, or come into 
a church, or do anything else, the per- 
formance of which requires no know- 
ledge beyond that of external things 
and external means. The kingdom of 



b THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

God, of Christ, of Heaven, is the do- 
minion of the mind, the heart, the soul. 
The body is, indeed, included in the 
dominion, but its subjection follows as 
a necessary result : it is not the primary 
subject. Those spiritual parts require 
truth to influence them. They require 
knowledge to guide them. What they 
need is, not an army of the kingdom, 
nor a despotism of the kingdom, nor a 
treasure of the kingdom, but a "word 
of the kingdom." 

To enter this kingdom, wmich is 
spiritual, one must first of all, and above 
all, know w T hat is true ; true of God and 
of himself; true as to what is required 
of him; true as to his character before 
God; true as to the extent, nature and 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. U 

consequences of his offence ; true as 
to the means and way of forgiveness. 

It was to this last department of the 
truth that the Lord was particularly 
alluding when he spoke of the word of 
the kingdom. His hearers had the 
written revelation of the truth, so far 
as the law of God was concerned. 
They had Moses and the Prophets; but 
Christ came to seek and to save the 
lost; to open the way of peace and 
grace. The word he brought was a 
message of mercy, a declaration of the 
way of redemption. It told the full 
truth as to what must be done by as 
many as wished to be saved. This 
word is the gospel preached and de- 
livered to us. Without it w r e have no 



10 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

adequate knowledge of God's righteous- 
ness in justifying the ungodly, no suf- 
ficient clew to the mercy-seat, no cross 
and expiating sacrifice. 

Yet how little is felt the responsibility 
of possessing the New Testament! — 
Judge by your own observation, by 
your own experience, by your own 
habits, how much the history of Christ, 
the words of Christ, the inspired in- 
structions of Apostles, are perused and 
studied, examined and re-examined, 
pondered and meditated, with perse- 
vering diligence, with earnest prayer, 
and honest sincerity, as the word of 
salvation, the guide to Heaven. 

" Hear ye the parable of the Sower," 
for it shows us that Christ perfectly 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 11 

foresaw the reception which his word 
would meet with thenceforward. TV hen 
he spoke the parable, it was so early 
in the career of the word of the king- 
dom, that a merely human mind could 
not have formed an opinion so compre- 
hensive, as time has proved this predic- 
tion to be, of the varieties of causes 
that would prevent the acceptance of 
the word. Nor could such a mind have 
foreseen, so accurately, the dispropor- 
tion of the hindrances to the facilities 
of belief. But standing as we do this 
day, eighteen hundred and more years 
from that day when it w T as uttered by 
the sea-shore, — contemplating Chris- 
tianity as it then was, in a small boat, 
so to speak, one preacher, two or three 



12 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

disciples, whilst the multitude of the 
hearers were practically strangers to 
the truth they were listening to; and 
looking along the history of the Church, 
with its myriads of ministers, and their 
millions of hearers, that whole history 
of preaching the word presents just the 
counterpart of this allegory of the 
Sower. It was true to the life then, 
in depicting the effects of the word in 
but a few hundreds of cases — it is just 
as true to the life this day in depicting 
the effects of the word on the persons 
who sit in the pews of our churches, 
and hear the parable read from the 
book. We might challenge the most 
ingenious or intelligent to add a fourth 
class of unfruitful hearers to the three 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 13 

which Christ enumerated, as one not 
included in the sowing on the wayside, 
the stony places, or the thorns. 

Then we ought to " hear the parable 
of the Sower" with great attention and 
solemnity, seeing we may do it under 
the conviction that we are hearing our 
individual character described by the 
Son of God, infallibly, within the com- 
pass of only three classes of the un- 
profiting, and one class of the profited 
hearers of the word of the kingdom. 

It narrows the scope of the great 
inquiry to very manageable limits, 
when we say, our case — mine — as a 
hearer of the New Testament, is either 
like that of the seed sown by the way- 
side, or that which fell into stony places, 



14 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

or that which was received among 
thorns, or that which was taken by 
good ground. In other words, each 
one may truly say, — 

'I have heard the gospel, but the 
wicked one hath catched it away from 
my heart;' or, <I received it at first 
with joy, but taking no root, it endur- 
ed but for a while;' or, 'I heard the 
word, but the care of this world and 
the deceitfulness of riches choked it;' 
or else, 'I heard and understood the 
word, and according to my measure, 
have shown some practical result.' 



j£iif^ 



SEEDS BY THE WAY-SIDE. 



(15) 



CHAPTER II. 



"The fowls came and devoured them up." "When 
any one heareth the word op the kingdom and 
understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked 
one and catcheth away that which was sown in 
his heart." 

When we speak of not understand- 
ing the word, it is often done by way 
of excusing ourselves for want of 
faith, on the ground of the obscurity 
of the word. These hearers fancy 

2* (17) 



18 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

that if they cannot comprehend all 
that is said, they are under no obliga- 
tion to receive it. As if the bare word 
of God, whether spoken as in times 
past by the prophets, or as unto us by 
his Son, and the whole embodied in 
one written record, was not sufficient 
to demand the belief and confidence 
of men, whether understood by them, 
or not ! 

But whatever may be the answer to 
this plea, this is not the place to insist 
upon it. However strong the plea 
might be in other circumstances, it 
could not avail the wayside recipient ; 
for the "understanding" which the 
Parable speaks of has no reference to 
what are commonly called the difficult- 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 19 

ies of gospel doctrine; or the things 
confessedly " hard to be understood." 
The term which our Lord used* rather 
signifies that neglect of bringing to- 
gether — or combining — in our minds 
the truth we hear and the regard that 
is due to it — the not bringing home to 
ourselves what we know to be true — 
which we call inattention, or overlook- 
ing. No one can be justly reproached 
for not comprehending matters that are 
beyond his capacity ; but it is a prop- 
er and usual subject of reproach, if 
one fails to understand a matter in 
which he has great responsibility, from 
the mere neglect of putting his mind 

* Mr? auvikvTos. According to Beza's translation, 
" non atlendit." 



20 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

into contact with the facts of the case. 
It then becomes a reasonable reproof — 
and it is in our Lord's own words we 
find it — "why do ye not understand?" 
(John viii.) " Are ye also yet without 
understanding?" (Matt, xv.) 

The matter for us to think of is 
this. After hearing and reading the 
gospel-word so long, after having the 
seed sown so plentifully, why have we 
not believed and obe} r ed it? Why 
have we not yet learned the lesson, 
and performed the duty, and conform- 
ed to the whole truth as thus distinct- 
ly set before us ? The explanation of 
the Divine Teacher will not permit us 
to say, it is all the fault of the wicked 
one who came and caught away that 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 21 

which was sown ; for, according to our 
Lord's words, it is not until one has 
heard and failed to understand, that 
the evil agency from without is exer- 
cised. "When any one heareth the 
word of the kingdom, and understand- 
eth it not, then cometh the w T icked 
one, and catcheth away that which 
was sown in his heart." When the 
hearers of the word disregard wdiat 
they hear, so as not to make it the 
subject of investigation, they practi- 
cally reject it; they leave it unappre- 
ciated; it is left exposed, like seed on 
the wayside, so that any bird may 
pick it up. 

Is it any wonder that they whose 
eyes are shut, do not see ? Is it any 



22 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

wonder that they who do not listen, 
do not hear? And if this is the natur- 
al effect of what may be called unin- 
tentional inattention, mere carelessness 
and want of thought, is it not likely 
to take place still more seriously and 
permanently, when the inattention, the 
neglect of the means of understanding, 
is wilful and deliberate? It was this 
obstinacy of purpose in keeping the 
truth from the mind, that our Lord 
exposed in all its peril, when he said 
in the same discourse with the Parable 
of the Sower, "this people's heart is 
waxed gross, and their ears are dull 
of hearing, and their eyes they have 
closed; lest at any time they should 
see with their eyes, and hear with 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 23 

their ears, and should understand with 
their heart, and should be converted, 
and I should heal them." 

The moral condition of the disciples 
was different — " Blessed are your eyes, 
for they see : and your ears, for they 
hear. . . Hear ye therefore the parable 
of the sower." 

This is where this point of the par- 
able comes home, or ought to come 
home to the conscience of many an 
habitual receiver of the word. When 
you receive it, you leave it as you find 
it. You read or hear it, and are done 
with it. You do not seize it as a treas- 
ure, and bury it in your heart, and 
protect it, and watch against losing it. 
You take no pains to " understand" it : 



24 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

no such pains as when you receive a 
document in your profession, a letter 
in your trade, a book in your studies, 
the use and value of which consist in 
your mastering it, and turning its con- 
tents to your own personal account. 
It is " then" — " then" — upon this neg- 
lect — upon this slothful, unapplying, 
superficial use of the word, that the 
wicked one takes it clean away. The 
great pilferer steals only what you left 
exposed. You invited him. You 
tempted the tempter. Lay not the 
blame on him. Do not suppose that 
you can excuse yourself for the loss, 
when, knowing that he. was all about, 
you threw open your doors, and let 
him see your treasures, and went 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. Zo 

yourself to sleep. Or, to come nearer to 
the figure of the parable, do not abuse 
the fowls for the loss of your harvest, 
if instead of sowing the seed in the 
fit place, and with fit care, you throw 
it about the streets, or scatter it about 
the highway made to be trodden by 
man and beast. 

That may well be called a mere 
wayside, or by-the-way receiving of 
the word, which consists in a passing, 
incidental, occasional catching of re- 
ligious doctrine. Many persons go to 
church, or take up the Bible, in a 
manner that may be described as an 
intentional keeping of themselves aside 
from the reach of the truth. They 
are like the crowd which lines the 



26 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

streets when a procession is in pro- 
gress, or which fills the galleries at a 
public festival; spectators, but not 
partakers; they come to see, not to 
share. These expect the word to take 
effect on them. They see how it 
suits others. They may rejoice in 
the conversion of others. But if any 
thing fall near them ; if a single stroke 
of truth seem to touch their own consci- 
ences for a moment, it is, as it were, side- 
ways, unexpected, and soon shaken off, 
as if they had, by accident, got pos- 
session of what was intended for some 
other person. " Then cometh the wick- 
ed one." 

There must be a great deal in the 
intention which we have in putting 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 27 

ourselves in the way of the word. If 
we go where we know we shall hear it ? 
or take the sacred book into our hands 
to peruse it, and actually intend to be 
profited, positively give our minds to 
it. as when an industrious scholar goes 
to the lecture, or to the study at his 
own table, purposely to understand, 
remember and practice, then it will be 
strange and unaccountable if we re- 
ceive no good impression. But if we 
have no intention no fixed purpose, no 
definite object, in the use of the di- 
vine word, — if there is no making up 
of the mind to attend to and lay to 
heart what shall be submitted to us in 
the name of the Most High and the 
Most Gracious, then it will be strange 



28 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

and unaccountable, on any natural hy- 
pothesis, if we receive any more than 
snch wayside fragments as may be 
caught away by the next volatile 
thought, or thrown away by the least 
resistance. In either case the seed is 
utterly gone. "The fowls came and 
devoured them up." "When they 
have heard, Satan cometh immediately, 
and taketh away the word that was 
sown in their hearts." " Then cometh 
the Devil, and taketh away the word 
out of their hearts, lest they should 
believe and be saved." 

With these explanations it is easy 
to comprehend our Lord's meaning 
when he said, in applying a passage 
of prophecy, "they seeing see not, 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 29 

and hearing they hear not; neither do 
they understand." Nor is it any more 
difficult to perceive why the reception 
of holy truth is ineffectual in these 
cases, than it is to account for the 
loss of any other kind of truth, when 
it is received only with the. external 
senses, and is not brought into use. 
There is this greater difficulty, indeed, 
in the word of the kingdom, that it is 
a spiritual, as well as intellectual use 
of it that is required. It is directed 
to the state of the heart, the turning 
of the soul, a radical change, an eter- 
nal result. But yet all these results 
are, in the plan of divine grace, as 
closely connected with a sincere use 
of the means, as any other kind of 

3* 



30 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

results with their established means. 
"As a man soweth, so shall he reap." 

The great caution to be given to 
such as complain that good impressions 
are so soon effaced — that the word is 
so soon caught from their hearts — is 
this: — make no delay in improving 
what you receive ; cover the good seed 
by prayer, and forsaking of temptation, 
and committing yourself to Christ, 
before the adversary can have the 
opportunity of your carelessness to 
snatch away the precious deposit. 
These impressions may be slight; they 
may seem superficial; but they may 
be cherished into strength and perform- 
ance. The seed first falls on the sur- 
face; 'a puff of wind seems strong 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 31 

enough to blow it away; but a little 
diligence and wisdom may secure it 
beyond the power of any tempest to 
disturb its rest, before it has fixed its 
root in the mould. 

You sometimes are caught with a 
view of divine truth which fixes your 
attention for a moment; which excites 
some alarm, or awakens some good 
desire, and }'ou think that nothing 
permanent will result because the im- 
pression is so light. You think that 
if the time for your awakening had, 
indeed, come, the impression would be 
stronger and continuous. But why is 
it not stronger and continuous? Be- 
cause you are so slow in improving it, 
that it perishes of neglect. You per- 



32 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

mit the birds to devour the seed before 
your eyes, and do nothing to "fray 
them away." You defer action till 
to-morrow, and by to-morrow there is 
nothing to act upon. You are not 
content with the amount or duration 
of the first impression, and so throw it 
all away. As if the mustard-seed 
could not become a tree! As if the 
drop of leaven could n6t swell the 
loaf! How T many times has the pro- 
cess been gone through in your case? 
Perhaps the whole history of your 
attendance on the public and private 
means of grace may be summed up as 
a hearing and forgetting, a series of 
convictions of what you ought to do 
and of postponements of the doing of 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 66 

it. In this case your whole religious 
character may be written in this line- — 
oh! let it not be your epitaph — "this 
is he which received seed by the ivay- 
side /" 

There are some few persons who 
appear to be so habitually inattentive, 
so recklessly trifling, that we may sus- 
pect whether they ever feel a word of 
the truth, or stop a moment, in their 
flight of folly, to remember that there 
is a God, or that they have souls. 
But the greater part, at least of church- 
attendants, do certainly receive from 
the word itself, or from the acts of 
Providence, or the suggestions of their 
own fears or thoughts, some intima- 
tions of danger to be escaped, duties 



Oi THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

to be regarded, truth to be believed, 
changes to be prepared for. If not in 
the exact sense of the parable, yet 
these too are wayside impressions; 
they touch us as we pass through the 
experiences of life, and feel that we 
are making our w r ay towards great 
changes before us. 

Again you are asked — yon, read- 
er! — what has become of these im- 
pressions ? What has been their end ? 
How do you now treat them? How 
do you intend to dispose of such as 
may have been made upon you, as you 
have turned these leaves, and as your 
conscience has been compelled to cry 
truth ! truth ! to many a line ? What 
a flock of mischievous agencies hover 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 35 

this moment around you waiting to 
catch even this poor seed, before it 
rests long enough to produce any good 
effect ! What little birds they are that 
do this ! How trifling the causes which 
can prevent the word of the kingdom 
from being heard and understood ? Not 
eagles, or vultures, or ravenous fowl 
pick up the seed. They would give 
the alarm by their very size and fierce- 
ness and clamor; they would despise 
the seed, and seek their prey in anoth- 
er shape. But it is the merest spar- 
rows, the veriest humming-birds, that 
play around us, and while amusing us 
with their plumage, and motions, and 
chirping, catch away that which is 
sown, from the heart. It is your busi- 



36 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

ness that does it; your love of the 
world; your sensibility to pleasure; 
your facility in changing the subjects 
of your thoughts; your neglect of 
mental discipline; it is this and that 
trifling temptation, or glittering scheme, 
or gay imagination; it is some foolish 
pride, or gaudy vanity; some paltry 
fear, or cowardly shame, or unmanly 
timidity. In some shape or other, 
probably in many shapes, such things 
are stealing away the most precious 
gifts, the most sacred deposits that 
your heart can receive. "Hear ye 
therefore the parable of the Sower," 
and remember that what seems so 
innocent, so insignificant, or so fasci- 
nating, is the agency of the most fear- 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. d / 

ful adversary of your soul: for the 
infallible interpreter of the allegory of 
the fowls that came and devoured the 
wayside seed has said, as he pointed 
to them, "then cometh the Devil, and 
taketh away the word out of their 
hearts, lest they should believe and be 
saved." 

It may be that some of our readers 
have already lost the benefit of the 
Lord's admonition, \>y supposing that it 
has no reference to them. They may 
have thought with complacency that 
they have often both heard and under- 
stood the word, rejoiced in it, and obeyed 
it. They have heard the call of Christ 
and become his disciples. 

All this may be so, and yet a little 

4 



38 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

reflection may convince them that the 
WO rd — much of it at least — is snatched 
from them before it reaches the heart. 
This is the case with those who hear 
the word, but do not keep it; who re- 
ceive the truth, but do not conform to 
it ; who profess faith, but live without 
good works, saying, "Lord, Lord," but 
not doiDg the commandments of the 
Lord. 

Surely the word of the kingdom 
ought to be precious to the subjects of 
the kingdom. "Hear ye, therefore, 
the parable of the Sower." It is well 
for Christians to ask themselves how 
much of the good seed falls by the 
wayside as to them; how often it is 
devoured before they have turned it to 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 39 

account; in plain words, what effect 
of the New Testament precepts and 
doctrines is discernible in the lives of 
Christians compared with the amount 
of instruction they obtain from it. 
Every page of the Scripture is given 
to them, as well as to others, for doc- 
trine, reproof, correction, instruction 
in righteousness, for it is given "that 
the man of God may be perfect, 
thoroughly furnished unto all good 
works." (1 Tim. iii.) No one's piet} r 
ever outgrows the necessity for the 
milk and meat of the word. Believers 
are exposed to the same interruptions 
and hindrances as others, in their use 
of the truth; but it is expected of 
them to show greater diligence in 



40 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

avoiding and overcoming them. They 
are supposed to have more dread of 
the wicked one, and to be more watch- 
ful. Yet how successful is he in 
catching away the word that should be 
feeding, strengthening, comforting, di- 
recting them ! They often feel convict- 
ed of delinquency in duty, negligence 
in their life, omission or unprofitable 
use of the means of grace, declining 
zeal, cooling devotion, religion degen- 
erating into formalism. Then they 
have a sense of clanger and of shame; 
they think they will do better; they 
will mend this fault and begin this 
duty, and give themselves w T ith new 
vigor to the life of godliness and the 
minding of the things of the Spirit; 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 41 

but the week, the month, the quarter, 
the year rolls round, and the improve- 
ment does not take place. Between 
the sowing of the seed and the time 
for the harvest something interposed 
and destroyed the good result as effect- 
ually as if it had devoured the seed. 

Communion-seasons abound in these 
disappointments. As they approach, 
communicants cannot help remember- 
ing their peculiar obligations; they 
look back to their first profession, 
their early diligence, seriousness and 
conscientiousness; how they appreciat- 
ed the opportunities of worship, when 
perhaps the ordinary services of their 
church were not frequent enough to 
satisfy them. It was the word — the 



42 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

word of the kingdom, that was then so 
precious to them, and that impelled 
them to good works, and to seek the 
abundance of the fruits of the Spirit. 
They have the same word yet — they 
have been receiving it all the time, but 
it is all sowing and no reaping. In 
grace, as in husbandry, there is not 
one seed-time and one harvest for a 
field ; or are seed-time and a perpetual 
succession of harvests, without a re- 
petition of the sowing. In this field 
neither the planting nor fruitfulness is 
periodical. They should be concurrent 
and constant. But from the fault of 
regarding them as periodical, there is 
often a revival of diligence in devotion, 
and in the use of the public means, as 



THE SOAVER AND THE SEED. 4d 

sacred seasons come round — serious 
impressions and pungent self-reproaches 
at the Lord's table — but when the 
special season has passed, the impres- 
sions pass with it. The seed was 
caught away as soon as it touched the 
soil. And why ? Because it was for- 
gotten; because the hearing and the 
feeling were taken for the fruit-time, 
instead of the seed — time ; because they 
who received the word, did not hear 
and understand. 

Let our little catechism give the 
practical lesson of these considera- 
tions : — " How is the word to be read 
and heard that it may become effec- 
tual to salvation? 

" That the word may become effectual 



44 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

to salvation, we must attend there- 
unto with diligence, preparation and 
prayer; receive it with faith and love; 
lay it up in our hearts, and practise it 
in our lives." 



THE ^PJkmikBhW* 



SEED ON STONY PLACES. 



(45) 



CHAPTER III. 



" Some fell upon stony places, [Mark has " stony 
ground:" Luke "a rock;"] where they had not 
much earth; and forthwith they sprung up, be- 
cause THEY HAD NO DEEPNESS OF EARTH J AND WHEN 
THE SUN WAS UP, THEY WERE SCORCHED; AND BECAUSE 
THEY HAD NO ROOT, THEY WITHERED AWAY." " AS 
SOON AS IT WAS SPRUNG UP, IT WITHERED AWAY, BE- 
CAUSE IT LACKED MOISTURE." 

" HE THAT RECEIVED THE SEED INTO STONY PLACES 
THE SAME IS HE THAT HEARETH THE WORD, AND ANON 
[AT ONCE] WITH JOY RECEIVETH IT ,* YET HATH HE NOT 
ROOT IN HIMSELF, BUT DURETH FOR A WHILE : FOR 
WHEN TRIBULATION OR PERSECUTION ARISETH BECAUSE 
OF THE WORD, BY AND BY HE IS OFFENDED." "THESE 
HAVE NO ROOT, WHICH FOR A WHILE BELIEVE, AND IN 
TIME OF TEMPTATION FALL AWAY." 

(47) 



48 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

Seed that drops where the soil is 
filled with stones, or wmere the soil is 
but the shallow covering of a solid 
rock, will spring up all the more quick- 
ly for the small quantity of earth. It 
has the shorter space through which to 
work its way; the lighter mass to 
oppose its puny struggles. It has a 
quick development. It has the start 
of what is sown in the deep furrow. 
But then it comes out feeble, slender, 
unable to bear the light and heat it 
encounters. It grows so easily upward, 
that it needs no root downward, to 
give it support, and w T hen it appears 
above the surface, it has nothing to 
hold it in the wind, or to furnish nour- 
ishment to its stalk. Both from the 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 49 

shallowness of the mould, and the 
absence of root, it gains no moisture, 
and soon withers away. 

To this law of the nature of vegeta- 
tion there is an analogous law in the 
nature of the mind. Superficial know- 
ledge is weak and transitory. It is 
their shallowness that makes the mul- 
titude of the credulous, and the self- 
conceited. They look only at the 
outside of things : cultivate only the 
surface. They have little knowledge; 
they come quickly to their conclu- 
sions; they act upon first impressions. 
Their horizon is of the narrowest com- 
pass, yet they imagine that nothing is 
hid from them. They endure but for a 
while. When their wisdom is fairly put 



50 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

to the test; when some emergency 
calls for their whole strength, they 
are soon scorched, and fall into insig- 
nificance. 

So it may be with religious know- 
ledge. We see one. perhaps a mere 
youth, taking up the Holy Scriptures, 
or the system of doctrines which the 
best and wisest of men have laborious- 
ly framed from the Scripture, and 
having himself the scantiest acquaint- 
ance with the holy volume, and the 
smallest capacity to apprehend the 
great outline of inspired theology, he is 
still self-confident and self-sufficient. 
He speaks of divine truth as if no one 
could teach him, and as if his own 
opinions could not be wrong and must 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 51 

not be questioned. He demands that 
the Scripture itself shall be interpreted 
by his own standard of justice and 
truth, and will perhaps threaten to 
discard revelation, if it should teach 
otherwise. 

Now here is the seed; here is the 
word ; it is revelation that is the sub- 
ject of knowledge; but here is "not 
much earth/' "no deepness of earth," 
"no root/' "it lacks moisture." There 
is hard rock under the shallow soil; 
there is but a handful of earth among 
the stones where the seed fell. The 
result is often as apparent as the 
scorching of the precocious blade of 
grain. The first faith withers away. 
The mind, not being established in the 



52 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

truth, suffering its opinions to push 
themselves forth without any proper 
substratum of truth to hold them and 
nourish them, is drawn in every direc- 
tion from that which is right, and at 
every turn becomes more crooked and 
more weak. Every new theory di- 
verts it; every dream of folly or su- 
perstition perplexes it; it goes from 
error to error; becomes wiser and 
wiser in its own conceit; soars higher 
and higher above what is written; by 
and by becomes offended at all estab- 
lished and tried doctrine, and its faith 
withers away into some miserable de- 
lusion, or into vacant unbelief. 

It is in the stony places that most 
heresies start up ; it is from those who 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. Od 

once received the word with joy, and 
whose religion, such as it was, "forth- 
with" sprang up into imaginary matu- 
rity and independence, that the great 
accessions are drawn to error, fanati- 
cism, and infidelity. 

Religious impressions are often re- 
ceived as suddenly, and the mind 
converted as unexpectedly as in the 
instance of Saul of Tarsus. The seed 
may be received into a shallow soil, 
and the soil may afterwards accumu- 
late so as to furnish nutriment and 
protection to the grain till it shall have 
attained some growth. But often, too, 
there are received sudden and transi- 
ent impressions of a religious kind, 
which really have no connection with 

5* 



54 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

the word of the kingdom, and which 
perish in the same night in which they 
show themselves. 

One sees a company of worshippers 
in a state of strong excitement. Their 
looks, gestures, outcries, create a scene 
of animation, which has a contagious 
effect, especially with weak and unre- 
flecting minds. A spectator may be- 
come strongly affected through the 
mere suceptibility of his nervous tem- 
perament, and without hearing or 
thinking of any fact or doctrine of a 
religious nature, to which he could 
point as producing the excitement in 
himself. 

Or, on the other hand, there may be 
a scriptural statement uttered, — some 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 55 

word of the kingdom — which gives 
the start to the sudden alarm, or the 
luxurious ecstacy, or the excited imag- 
ination. The "joy" and " gladness" 
with which these impressions are 
so "immediately" received, seem to 
promise great results; They are some- 
times taken as the supernatural, and 
therefore, most certain evidences of 
conversion, rendering superfluous any 
further trial of its reality. But what 
is frequently the result ? Is it not like 
the rush without mire, the flag with- 
out water, which whilst in its green- 
ness withereth before any other herb? 
(Job viii.) And what is the evident 
cause? What but this — that there 
was only the feeling, the excitement, 



56 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

the sympathy? "Anon with joy" the 
word was received, but the cause of 
joy was not known; there was in fact 
no cause for it. It was a transport 
without reason. How could it last ? 
Anon with indifference it expired. If 
it had proceeded- from a view of the 
divine attributes as shown in the 
word; or from a view of the divine 
righteousness in the method of just- 
ification; or from the consciousness 
of a new principle of spiritual life, 
exercising an actual power over the 
heart and its issues, there would have 
been a cause for intelligent joy, — 
though, perhaps, not of a description 
that would exhibit itself in the form 
of bodily excitement. But if the ex- 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 57 

perience were only superficial, and 
without the groundwork of an intelli- 
gent and sincere reception of the word 
itself, there was no root; not much 
earth ; it lacked moisture ; it withered 
and disappeared. 

Or, again, the most tranquil regard 
may be given to the word. It may be 
so emotionless as to be stoical. The 
most unimpassioned assent may be 
given to the truth, and yet the holy 
seed may be said to lie among the 
stones, or on the rock, because the 
heart is not opened to it. It falls only 
on the mind — is received only by the 
understanding. As in the case just 
supposed, there was all feeling and no 
knowledge, so here all is knowledge 



58 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

and no feeling. There is an admission 
of guilt, but no such shame as will not 
lift up its eyes to heaven, and only cry, 
"God he merciful to me a sinner!" 
There is no such abasement as ex- 
claims, "I abhor myself, and repent in 
dust and ashes :" " mine iniquities are 
gone over mine head ; as a heavy bur- 
den, they are too heavy forme:" "I 
am ashamed and blush to lift up my 
face to thee, my God: for our iniqui- 
ties are increased over our head, and 
our trespass is grown up into the 
heavens." 

There are many suns to scorch and 
wither such soil as this. " Tribulation 
or persecution because of the word" 
will do it. When men find they must 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 59 

suffer on account of their religion, 
they often show how rootless their 
faith was. The stake has made many 
martyrs, but also many apostates. And 
not only the stake. The dread of any 
loss as a consequence of faith, is some- 
times enough to blast the sprouting of 
the good seed. Persons are persuaded 
of the truth; there is soil enough 
among the stones for that; but when 
they begin to reflect that a life con- 
formed to the truth will cut them off, 
here and there, from what they love 
more than the truth; that sacrifices 
must be submitted to; self-denials en- 
dured; reproach, or ridicule, or sus- 
picion encountered; the very appre- 
hension of such incidents prevents 



60 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

their committing themselves to what 
they know to be true; or having 
committed themselves, the fire is too 
hot for them, and while they are 
shifting hither and thither to escape 
it, their religion withers away. u De- 
mas hath forsaken me; having loved 
this present world." The hot sun of 
covetousness withered the religion of 
Ananias, Sapphira, Judas. Prosperity 
is sometimes a more searching fire 
than persecution, in the trial of faith. 
A religion that started up suddenly, 
in a season of affliction, in a moment 
of alarm, and which was not cultivated 
afterwards, will show its want of 
depth and root by gradually dwind- 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 61 

ling into negligence and indifference, 
till it finally vanishes from sight. 

What one of the Evangelists calls 
the " time of temptation," when many 
" fall away," comprehends a large class 
of the occasions that witness the 
perishing of good impressions: — the 
temptations of pleasure and the weak- 
ness of the principle of self-restraint; 
the temptations of a formal religion, 
and the weakness of the understand- 
ing of what is spiritual; the tempta- 
tions of self-righteousness, leading to 
the forgetfulness of the necessity of 
being " rooted and grounded in Christ ;" 
the temptations of false doctrines, 
causing a false hope that the grace of 
God will dispense with good works, if 

6 



62 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

there be an outward show of religion, 
or causing the delusion that, there being 
no danger of falling from grace, there 
is no necessity for watchfulness; — or 
either side of this error, viz : that if 
one act well, it is not important what 
he believes, or if he believe correctly, 
he may act as he pleases. 

It must be observed that these 
temptations may implicate the stand- 
ing of professed Christians as well as 
of others. Indeed the stony places 
where the seed was sown, do not 
originally represent unbelievers at all. 
It is they who receive the word, and 
even joyfully at first, who alone are 
described. They are advanced a stage 
beyond those from whom Satan caught 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 63 

the word, before it germinated at 
all — the wayside seed. Let new con- 
fessors of Christ take notice of this. 
There is seldom much deepness of 
earth when the word first takes effect. 
The little that there is, is apt to pass 
for a great deal. Too much confidence 
is placed in the mere profession, as an 
evidence of grace, or as the accom- 
plishment of the work of faith. It 
would be better to consider attendance 
on the ordinances as means of cultiva- 
tion rather than the harvest ; as more 
like planting than gathering. It would 
be better for all of us to be looking to 
ourselves that our shallow knowledge, 
superficial experience, and feeble be- 
ginnings of every kind may be growing 



64 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

more full and complete. We should 
be extremely watchful to hold fast 
what we have., that it may not barely 
be preserved from extinction before it 
produces anything, but that it may 
be secured and established so that it 
shall bring forth much fruit and con- 
stantly. Our principles must be made 
stronger; our practical acquaintance 
with the truth more thorough and 
active. We must know w T hy we be- 
lieve and what we believe, and feel 
that we do believe, and that this be- 
lieving works itself into our actions 
day by day and all day, and is 
strengthening, directing and marking 
our character. This is the only means 
of becoming so rooted in faith, that 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 65 

the winds of error shall not prostrate 
it, the billows of doubt make it wav- 
er, nor the fire of temptation scorch 
and wither it. (Ephes. iv. James i. 
Matt, xiii.) 

Let church members, whether their 
connection be recent or old, beware of 
the stony places, the stony ground, 
the rock. Do not be diverted from 
admitting the necessity of scrutinizing 
your condition by the occasional — or 
even habitual joy, with which you 
receive the word. You may find your 
emotions affected by the incidents of 
public worship. The hymn, or the 
prayer, or the sacrament, or the word 
may excite, now your feelings of 
happiness, noav of tenderness. You 



66 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

may weep, you may feel yourselves 
elated above the flesh and the earth. 
You may think within yourselves, " this 
is heaven/' or, "now I am indeed sen- 
sible that I am a Christian." But how 
is it "by and by?" How is it when 
the moving cause, so far as the outward 
cause is concerned, ceases to act? — 
when the service is over, when the 
sympathetic chords lose their tension, 
when you breathe the fresh air, and 
tread again the common walks of life ? 
How is it "by and by," when you are 
at home, when you are the father, the 
merchant, the landlord, the politician? 
How is it when the temptation to an 
old sin recurs; when an opportunity 
of benevolence offers itself; when the 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 67 

poor ask your assistance, or the em- 
barrassed your forbearance ; when you 
may perpetrate a secret meanness, or 
perform a secret charity? Is it heaven 
then ? Is it tears of joy and celestial 
emotion, in view of your divine rela- 
tionship, and of the practical strength 
you find imparted in the hour of temp- 
tation to evil, or opportunity for good, 
that fill your eyes then? Do you 
under these common-place circumstan- 
ces feel and act as you did in the wor- 
ship or at the communion-table, or as 
you then thought you would feel and 
act under such circumstances? "By 
and by he is offended," said our Lord, 
in his interpretation of this part of the 
parable. Something takes place which 



68 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

causes him who received the word with 
gladness to stumble at that very word ; 
to wish it were not what it is ; to wish 
he could avoid its requirements, modify 
its strictness, or evade its authority. 
"He hath not root in himself, but 
dureth for a while." Oh ! the stones, 
the stones ! that cover the ground, and 
shut out the proper influence of the 
sunshine, and the moisture, and only 
allow the seed to attain such a puny 
existence that it hardly begins to 
put forth the blade, before the very 
power which should have given it 
growth and strength and maturity, 
burns it up. 

" For a while they believe." How 
strange and unreasonable! What is 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 69 

true in the objects of faith is always 
true, and always to be believed. The 
truth of Grod and the duty of man do 
not vary with the seasons, they are 
not affected by the changing moods of 
the human mind. Religion is not one 
thing in church, and at the sacrament, 
and on the Lord's day, and another 
thing everywhere else. The soul's 
value, and the soul's danger, and the 
soul's hope do not rise and fall with 
the feelings. Your interests, your jeo- 
pardy, your accountability, are just 
the same this moment when you are 
at ease on these points so that no 
words move you, as they were the 
other day when you were so anxious, 
so full of seriousness, so absorbed in 



70 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

the sense of danger, that whichever 
way you turned you could behold noth- 
ing else. You need the means of grace, 
the Bible, private prayer and public 
prayer, just as much this week when 
you are letting every thing hinder 
your use of them, or are using them 
as cold formalities, as in that week 
when you had resolved to make a 
public profession, or the week after 
you had made it, when you felt that 
you would be acting inconsistently if 
} r ou were not employing all these op- 
portunities, nay, when you could not 
be comfortable or feel safe, without 
using them. 

"For a while they believe, and in 
time of temptation, fall away ;" — there 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 71 

is the secret of it. They ceased to 
believe as they did at first, not be- 
cause there was less reason to be- 
lieve, but because, through temptation, 
they fell away from their belief : they 
ceased to act according to what they 
believed. 

" Hear ye, therefore, the parable of 
the Sower :" understand it : apply it. 
Does it reveal the canker of your 
short-lived piety ? Does it remind you 
of what you once felt, and show how 
you lost the impressions? Does it 
disclose the cause of your present 
deficiency, of the stunting of w T hat 
once promised a vigorous growth, the 
decaying of what once indicated strong 
vitality? If you find it to be so with 



72 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

you, or fear that it is so, and all reli- 
gious sentiment and conviction be not 
quite withered, make immediate exer- 
tion to obtain the radical amendment 
which you see to be necessary. In the 
kingdom of grace the worst disadvan- 
tages may be overcome; what seemed 
to be the most hopeless condition for 
an}^ wholesome result, may be reclaim- 
ed. There is nothing — not even the 
conversion of a faithless and deceived 
heart — too hard for the Lord. Is 
yours that heart? Does the rock ap- 
pear to underlie the thin surface of 
your religious dispositions, and the 
stones to crowd it above, while the 
fierce heat of temptation burns around, 
as if awaiting the first appearance of 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 73 

the tender shoot to scorch it up ? Then 
it was for you this part of the parable 
was given ; to warn you; to put you 
on your guard; to set you to using 
the means of preventing the fatal re- 
sult. What you have to do is to go 
to Christ with your hard heart, your 
inattentive, unsettled mind, your vari- 
able feelings, your shallow religion, 
your easuy-offended prejudices, and 
with tears of confession, w T ith unquali- 
fied submission, with infant-like docil- 
ity, w r ith a decided, and if necessary 
violent correcting of all your known 
inconsistencies, trust in omnipotent 
grace to effect the great conversion 
which you need. 



TIHE US IP Jl M iL IB 3L 21 



SEED AMONG THORNS. 



(75) 



CHAPTER IV. 



« Some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang 

UP WITH IT AND CHOKED IT, AND IT YIELDED NO 



FRUIT." 



« HE THAT RECETVED SEED AMONG THE THORNS 19 HH 
THAT HEARETH THE WORD, AND THE CARE OF THIS 
WORLD, AND THE DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES, AND THE 
LUSTS OF OTHER THINGS ENTERING IN, CHOKE THE 
WORD, AND HE BECOMETH UNFRUITFUL." " THAT WHICH 
FELL AMONG THORNS ARE THEY WHICH WHEN THEY 
HAVE HEARD GO FORTH, AND ARE CHOKED WITH CARES, 
AND RICHES, AND PLEASURES OF THIS LIFE, AND BRING 
NO FRUIT TO PERFECTION." 

(76) 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 77 

The different terms used in this 
explanation of the parable may be 
represented in that single one "this 
life." It is the antagonism of this 
life to the other life, of this world to 
that world, the unfriendliness of the 
trifling things now about us to the 
great interests of an eternal destiny, 
it is this which every one knows to be 
one of the chief hindrances to the 
rise and progress of religion in the 
soul. 

The manner in which the things of 
"this life" accomplish their unfriendly 
end, is most graphically portrayed in 
the expression used by the heavenly 
Teacher. They do not "tread down" 
or "devour" the seed, as in the way- 



/ 5 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

side sowing; nor "scorch" and "wither" 
it, as it begins to appear in the stony 
places which had not much earth ; but 
the thorns of the world grow up with 
the good seed and choice it, so that 
there is no fruit. 

How exactly this comparison re- 
presents the process, may be better seen 
by a few examples, made the more 
personal by taking the form of a direct 
address. 

For instance : — You heard the word 
of the kingdom in the nursery, in the 
school, from the Bible, from one cate- 
chism after another, from parents and 
teachers, from your pastor and his 
assistants, from the juvenile books of 
a religious kind which were the chief 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 79 

reading of your youth. Thus the 
early seed was scattered and received. 
Religion was to a certain extent, incor- 
porated with your daily habits. You 
talked of the Bible, of sin, of heaven, 
of the righteous and the wicked, of God 
and the Saviour, as realities, and as 
if you thought that every one else 
was as familiar with them, and had 
the same childlike faith in them as 
yourself. 

Then you " went forth" — forth from 
the childish age and its associations, 
its simplicities and comparative harm- 
lessness. You took your place in an 
older rank. You passed to a school, 
perhaps a boarding-school, or college. 
You found older associates, new phases 



80 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

of life, customs different from, and some 
of them in strong contrast with those of 
your own training. With each step of 
this going forth and gro wing-up, your 
religious character was changing. In pu fe- 
ting away other childish things, your 
Christian childhood began to pass into 
what was considered a more advanced 
condition. You heard the same word as 
before, but your faith was not so direct 
and unquestioning as it used to be. 
You did not treat the Scripture and 
its subjects with the simplicity and 
openness you formerly did. Prayer 
became a more formal act. It was 
sometimes suspended. You found your- 
self ashamed or afraid to pray. Your 
new company, and higher grade of 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 81 

reading, and new subjects of imagina- 
tion, and engrossing studies insensibly 
weakened the eifect of former impres- 
sions, and now, God, heaven, sin, the 
Saviour, the distinction of righteous 
and wicked, and the solemnity of 
religious observances, though far from 
being obliterated, had become more 
dim, less prominent, actual and abiding 
objects. 

Surely it may be said of such a 
course that the seed was choked; 
choked by the first growth of those 
new cares of this life, which, though 
comparatively slight, are still the begin- 
ning of its THORNS. 

But you came to another stage. Man- 
hood succeeded the youthful period. 



82 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

Now came business, filling the day 
with its occupations, and the night 
with dreams. Now came professional 
and political ambition. Now you were 
men ; and you must be busy men, full 
of work and of schemes. You had your 
own affairs, the concerns of others, 
perhaps some public cares to divide 
your thoughts and fill your time. And 
how was it with the Bible, and cate- 
chism, and the Sabbath, and the bedside 
prayer now? They were not discard- 
ed; they are not doubted; but w T as 
their influence growing with your 
growth? If it had been but seed, little 
seed, once, was the fruit advancing? 
If the days of the childlike bud and 
youthful flower had gone by, was the 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 83 

mature tree taking their place? Ah 
no! The further you advanced from 
that earlier period, the wider became 
the separation between your thoughts 
and your habits, and the truth — the 
word of the kingdom, at first so iden- 
tified with both. You became too busy, 
too full of other things. Those other 
things were close at hand. They were 
visible and tangible; they were de- 
manding or alluring your constant atten- 
tion. They were powerful, and conspi- 
cuous and progressive, compared with 
the simple religious things of childhood, 
which began to appear to you in the 
light of faded, obsolete things. Are 
not the causes of such a result well 
named thorns* choking the word, and 



84 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

if not absolutely killing it, making it 
unfruitful ? 

Or the cares of this life came in 
another shape. You had become the 
head of a family. A world of new 
"cares" opened upon you as a hus- 
band, wife, father, mother. You had 
to run a daily career of employments, 
and perplexities. The duties arising 
from your children's education, train- 
ing, subsistence, preparation for future 
life, pressed upon you. The cares 
arising from sickness, restricted means, 
reverses of fortune, brought a new 
variety of distractions to your mind. 
The common burdens of the head of 
a household necessarily require much 
time and thought. Even to the mother 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. bo 

of a family how often may the words of 
the Lord Jesus be applied, as express- 
ing an unavoidable burden, "Martha, 
Martha, thou art careful and troubled 
about many things!" But, after all, 
they are things of "this life," and 
what is their effect on the things of 
the other life ? Do you not say that 
your domestic cares give you no time 
to pursue the bent of the religious 
training which you enjoyed at a more 
favorable season? Do you not com- 
plain that the troubles of your lot so 
perplex and weigh upon your mind, 
that you can think of nothing else ? 
Do you not make excuses, out of your 
circumstances — your being cumbered 
with much serving — for the neglect of 



86 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

the "one thing needful?" (Luke x.) 
And has not the consequence been 
that you have grown, both into disuse 
of, and indifference to religious duties 
once held to be indispensable? Is it 
not easy now to make, and yield to 
slight reasons for omitting what, in 
other times, you would not have dared 
to omit, or for doing what you once 
would have shrunk from? Oh then 
see how plainly you are written among 
those who, when they have heard, go 
forth, and are choked with cares of 
this life, and bring no fruit to per- 
fection. 

Connect this thought with those that 
are thus suggested : — you were trained 
by a kind Providence in the time of 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 87 

freedom from care for the time when 
you would have fewer and less favour- 
able opportunities. You were trained 
in childhood, in the nursery and school, 
for the headship of your own family, 
with all its trials and responsibilities. 
That was the seed-time. Now is the 
time for showing the good results. 
Now the good seed of the word should 
be flourishing in its thirty -fold, sixty- 
fold, hundred-fold blessings ; guiding, 
supporting, comforting you with its 
teachings, and ripening your piety 
under all its trials, and so overcom- 
ing — outgrowing — the thorns which 
cannot be eradicated. "I would have 
you without carefulness," says the 
inspired writer, when dwelling on the 



88 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

exposure of domestic life to those 
occupations and motives which are so 
likely to make the heart selfish, and 
the mind forgetful of higher ties. (1 
Cor. vii. 32.) "Hear the parable of 
the Sower;" and judge whether there 
is any mystery in the gradual dis- 
appearance of religious impresskms, 
when, instead of being encouraged 
and confirmed in early life, those who 
have received them "go forth" into 
the exposures and the conflicts of even 
the common cares of this life, and en- 
counter every successive obstacle with 
diminished strength. "The thorns 
sprang up with it, and choked it." 

And some are "choked with riches." 
You were once poor, or in moderate 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 89 

circumstance as to worldly wealth. 

In your humble home, or retired pew, 

you first received the word. Your 

temporal condition was favourable to 

its effect. You had not luxury to 

pamper you, no room for vanity, no 

social position to make you a mark for 

the snares of the worldly. But with 

time came riches. Now you possess 

it; or whatever you may term it now, 

it is what in those humbler days you 

regarded as riches. The change may 

seem to have strewn your path with 

flowers, to have surrounded you with 

the means of enjoyment, to have made 

your advancing years the harvest of 

your life. But what has been the 

effect of the change on the growth of 
8* 



90 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

the word? Has it nurtured, strength- 
ened and ripened your religious know- 
ledge and religious character, so that all 
the world is as ready to bear witness 
to your piety as to your wealth? Have 
all your gains been made conscien- 
tiously, so that "fraud" or " oppression" 
or "extortion" or " uncharitableness" 
cannot be justly written over the 
smallest heap of your coin? Are you 
humble and devout in reference to 
the very fact of your having this 
stewardship, lest the rust should be 
witness against you? Have your 
riches so ministered to your worldli- 
ness as to be cankers to your piety ? 
Has your zeal to be rich caused you 
" to fall into temptation and a snare, 



9 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 91 

and into many foolish and hurtful lusts 
which drown men in destruction and 
perdition?" (1 Tim. vi.) Has your use 
of riches clearly indicated that you 
had labelled all your resources " holi- 
ness unto the Lord ?" Or do you 
grudge the gift to God, to his king- 
dom, to Christ in his poorest disciple ? 
Or is the gift so paltry, that you 
would be considered mean if you 
bestowed no more in the mere super- 
fluities of living? Look candidly at 
your possessions and your religion, 
and see whether they have been an- 
tagonists; whether they divide your 
heart; whether God or Mammon has 
the ascendency; whether the good 
seed or the thorns have prevailed. 



92 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

It is not only the possession of 
wealth that chokes the word. The 
pursuit of it, whether successful or 
futile; the desire of it, whether grati- 
fied or disappointed; the thought of 
its desirableness and of what it would 
procure, constantly occupying the mind ; 
the envy and jealousy excited towards 
the more prosperous ; all that is com- 
prehended in "the love of money," 
has a tendency to prevent the influ- 
ence of divine knowledge on the heart. 
Examine yourself whether, if not the 
actual obtaining of property, yet your 
thoughts, hopes and cares about pro- 
perty, have not prevented the growth 
of holy affections, and made you "car- 
nally-minded." This scrutiny is the 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 93 

more important for the intimation 
thrown out in our Lord's phrase in the 
parable — "the deceiifidness of riches." 
They deceive in a thousand ways — 
by tempting under false appearances, 
by concealing sin under specious names, 
by licensing indulgences once condemn- 
ed — but they are deceitful in no way 
more injurious to the soul, than in the 
promises men make to themselves, and 
the vows they make to God, before 
they are rich. You thought how T well 
you would spend your money if ever 
gained; what a good influence would 
flow from your higher position; what 
a faithful steward you would be. Has 
the result been w T hat you intended ? 
Or has the increase of the blessing 



94 THE SOWER AXD THE SEED. 

stifled your good intentions and led 
you into new classes of offences? 
Have not your temporal pursuits been 
constantly thwarting }^our religious pur- 
suits? 

There is one more antitype of the 
word-choking thorns. The divine Teach- 
er named it "the pleasures of this 
life," or "the lusts of other things." 

It should not escape our notice that 
none of these particulars refer to 
things absolutely wrong. " The care 
of this world" comprises the common 
and unavoidable subjects of every 
person's duty. " Riches" are a peril, 
they are " deceitful," but so is poverty, 
and neither is in itself a sin. And so 
"the pleasures of this life" are not all 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 95 

sinful; nor are the "lusts of other 
things" always unjust or unholy de- 
sires. They are but other phrases for 
the common influence of " this life," 
"this world." This life has its plea- 
sures. God has provided them. This 
world has its " other things" than the 
word which rightly claim our regard. 
But the "pleasures" and the "other 
things" have their proper place. It is 
their intrusion, out of that place, that 
produces the mischief. It is their 
crowding upon the better things, and 
displacing them, that makes them evil. 
It is the disproportionate consequence 
they assume that makes them danger- 
ous. It is when the weeds become so 
rank as to choke the good seed, that 



96 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

they require extermination, if no othe 
means can correct them, and keep them 
in their place. 

Now look around, look within, and 
see if there be any mystery in this. 
You have heard the word : you have 
been convinced by it : you have found 
on its side every conclusion of reason, 
every remonstrance of conscience, every 
persuasion of what was best for you, 
in all possible respects, for the present 
and the future : you thought you would 
go forth, perhaps you positively resolv- 
ed that you would, and obey that word. 
But when you went forth from the 
hearing of this heavenly message, am- 
bassadors of another description met 
you. They were the representatives 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 97 

of "this life" only, the devotees of 
" this world " exclusively. They said, 
"come with us and we will lead you 
into the pleasantest path ; it is broad, 
fair and full of life : no sombre shades 
fall upon it; no spectres from the world 
beyond the grave haunt it : it is all in- 
nocent, too : it is only to live as the 
rest of the world do : there is no harm 
in pleasure." And so you went to 
their occupations and amusements, still 
reserving a little space, a corner here 
and there, in your daily, or at least 
weekly routine, for better things — for 
a chapter, a prayer, a public service — 
but the predominant feature of your life 
w 7 as pleasure — the enjoyments and pur- 
suits wdiich begin and end with the 



98 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

present world. And how fared the 
good seed ? Ah ! it was dwindling all 
this time. Prayer was crowded ont 
by this engagement, or postponed for 
that, or abridged by a third. The pleas- 
ant book superseded the useful. In- 
clination controlled duty. What was 
agreeable, what made the variety — the 
"other things" — of life, these decided 
every choice ; with now and then a re- 
luctant sacrifice of preference through 
a superstitious, rather than religious 
fear, lest you should go too far, or too 
rapidly, with the world. 

"When you think over this course 
and its effect, what figure in the whole 
range of nature, would better set it 
forth than the thorns strangling the 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 99 

seed as it begins to grow, so that it is 
made unfruitful, or brings no fruit to 
perfection ? There was always a pro- 
mise, a sign, a beginning of good, but 
ahvays, too, another kind of influence 
going on at the same time, and as must 
be the case in such close connections 
of the good and the evil, the evil be- 
coming the stronger. 

This illustration of the Teacher sent 
from God, gives one of the best stand- 
ards for judging the true quality of the 
wwld's customs and amusements, about 
w T hich curious questions are often pro- 
pounded as to their lawfulness, or the 
contrary. The point is generally to be 
determined, not so much by the name 
and description of the thing itself, or by 



100 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

any settled uniformity of its influences, 
as by the effect it actually produces in 
a given instance. Does it hinder good 
impressions? Does it promote holy 
dispositions ? Does it interfere with 
devotion ? Does it divert and bewil- 
der the mind ? Does it make sacred 
things less attractive, less effective ? 
Does it help, or does it hinder the 
struggles of the soul for communion with 
God, and for the holiness without 
which no one can see God ? Does re- 
ligious principle maintain its vitality 
and activity in spite of the w T orldly 
compliance? Do the spiritual affec- 
tions and appetites enlarge even wmilst 
the lusts of other things are entering 
in? Do the tares hurt the wheat? 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 101 

1 am making no accusation. I am 
only repeating what the Lord Jesus 
Christ has declared will be found in the 
history of his kingdom, and among his 
own disciples as well as others, as 
causes of hindering his own word, and 
ask you to judge whether in your own 
experience there is any counterpart to 
these various representations. It may 
be that you do not easily perceive to 
which of the three classes of hindran- 
ces your own case may be most prop- 
erly referred. You may see something 
in each one of these mirrors that 
reflects your spiritual image; in each 
of these portraits you may detect the 
likeness of particular features. Turn 
not away from the discovery. Your 



102 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

salvation may be identified with your 
turning it, through the divine blessing, 
to this practical use. The possession 
of the means of grace involves a result 
corresponding with the use that is made 
of them. " For the earth which drinketh 
in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and 
bringeth forth herbs meet for them by 
w T hom it is dressed, receiveth blessing 
from God; but that which beareth 
thorns and briers is rejected, and is 
nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be 
burned." (Hebrews vi.) 



T221 FAWiAMlM 



SEED ON GOOD GROUND. 



(103 ) 



CHAPTER V. 



"He that received the seed into the good ground is 
he that heareth the word, and understandeth 

IT J WHICH ALSO BEARETH FRUIT." (MattJieiO.) " SUCH 
AS HEAR THE WORD, AND RECEIVE IT, AND BRING FORTH 

fruit." {Mark.) " They which in an honest and 

GOOD HEART, HAVING HEARD THE WORD, KEEP IT, AND 
BRING FORTH FRUIT WITH PATIENCE." (Luke.) 

When those who profit by the word 
of the gospel are compared to good 
ground, as contrasted with the bad 
soils previously described, and are 
characterized as having "an honest 
and good heart," it is not signified 

(105) 



106 THE SOWER AXD THE SEED. 

that there is such- a difference as that 
in the original, natural, condition of 
the respective classes, so that it is 
only the good who are profited by the 
word. In this sense, "there is none 
good; no not one." The three unfavour- 
able soils represented, not so many 
natures, but certain varieties of ob- 
stacles lying in the persons themselves, 
produced by their own fault. The 
good ground, being presented as the 
reverse of the other kinds, is there- 
fore, to be understood as exhibiting, 
not a nature predisposed to goodness, 
but a state of mind which, conscious 
of its need of radical improvement, is 
willing to receive and employ the 
means established by divine authority 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 107 

for that end. According to the terms 
of the contrast, the good ground stands 
for the person who gives a sincere and 
faithful attention to the holy truth; 
guards against what is known to be 
prejudicial to it; watches against the 
temptations that would counteract a 
good impression ; is not moved by the 
opposition, or other causes of offence, 
that would make one ashamed or afraid 
to follow his convictions; allows not 
the cares, or pleasures, or riches of the 
world to divert and fill his mind with 
other incongruous things ; but, on the 
contrary, does everything to encour- 
age the good effect of the heavenly 
instruction. The phrase, therefore, does 
not describe the better heart, the heart 



108 THE SOWER AM) THE SEED. 

to which everything in religion is 
easy and attractive ; the heart enjoy- 
ing some high and special privileges 
arbitrarily bestowed upon it and set- 
ing it above ordinary circumstances 
and trials; but the "honest" heart, 
that desires to know and do what is 
right, that is open to conviction, that 
is willing to be taught, that is not 
afraid to encounter the consequence of 
a faithful conformity to known duty. 
Such an one heareth the word and 
understandeth it. He receives it in 
an honest and good heart. Having 
heard the word, he keeps it. He 
brings forth fruit with patience. 

Do you really wish to know how 
you may use profitably the advantages 






THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 109 

3 r ou possess in having the word of the 
kingdom? 

Begin by laying to heart the three- 
fold admonitions which the Lord of the 
kingdom has already given in appri- 
sing you of the chief hindrances that 
are in your way. If you have found 
that there is that one thing, or those 
several things, on which you can lay 
your finger and say, It is this which, in 
spite of all my convictions, keeps me 
from being a Christian, or from being 
a more consistent Christian, than I am, 
then it is in vain you continue to 
receive more and more of the word, 
while the very obstacle remains which 
has kept the word unprofitable to this 

time. The question must come to this 
10 



110 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

point — which will you give up ? You 
cannot retain both. The parable of the 
wheat and the tares being suffered to 
grow together, does not refer to the 
existence of the good seed and the 
weeds in the same heart at the same 
time, but to the living together of the 
good and the evil in the word, or 
the church, till the time for eternal 
separation. The one is possible ; the 
other is not. Two persons may be in 
the same place at once who serve dif- 
ferent masters, but no man can at the 
same time, serve two such masters as 
God and Mammon. Our Lord's own 
language has shown us what are the 
principal resistants to the power of 
grace; — "this world," "this life," the 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. Ill 

objects, the delights of the present 
existence. It is the flesh against the 
spirit. It is the carnal mind against 
the spiritual mind. It is not merely 
the present life against the future life, . 
time against eternity, earth against 
heaven, — but it is the divine realities 
now existing, now real, now claiming 
our supreme and constant regard, that 
are put aside for ignoble rivals. This 
world — this life — are now thrusting 
themselves into the place of God. The 
results reach indeed to eternity, they 
affect the question of heaven and hell, 
but it is a present sin and loss that is 
meant when it is said that the love of 
the world is incompatible with the 
love of God ; and that friendship with 



112 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

the world, in this sense, is enmity 
with God, " for all that is in the world, 
the lust of the flesh and the lust of 
the eyes, and the pride of life is not 
of the Father, but is of the world." 
Some shake off the application of such 
statements by thinking they mean 
world liness in the sense of gay pleas- 
ure, or the indulgences which it re- 
quires wealth to obtain. But whilst 
these are included, they are far from 
exhausting the catalogue. Forgetting 
others, ask yourself what is your own 
position as to " this life." What place 
has " this world" in your plans, works, 
hopes? What power have the things 
of last week and next week, the things 
you suspend on the Lord's day to run 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 113 

to church and to be resumed on Mon- 
day — what amount of power have they 
over your heart? How much room do 
they occupy ? You may be poor as 
Lazarus, yet "this life" may be your 
idol. Every idol must be put out of 
the way, if the doctrines of God's 
word are to take effect. Is the sacri- 
fice too great? Then make up your 
mind to take the consequence. 

Another point is implied in the lan- 
guage of "keeping" the word, when it 
has once been heard. Having got the 
possession which comes by receiving 
the knowledge of the word, it is essen- 
tial to the end of receiving it, that it 
be retained. As the seed must main- 
tain its hold in the soil after it has 



114 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

been deposited there, so knowledge 
must keep the place it has gained in 
order to produce its permanent result 
The student will be disappointed who 
only reads and hears, and does not 
establish his acquirements in his mem- 
ory. The christian will have no reason 
to expect progress in piety who only 
skims the pages of the Bible. To keep 
the word, does not, in this connection, 
mean obeying it ; though that is a 
consequence of such keeping. It means, 
here, what we call the safe keeping, 
the treasuring, of what is valuable. It 
is the remembering, pondering, revolv- 
ing that which inspires our faith and 
regulates our conduct. Even to his 
dearly beloved son in the faith did the 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 115 

Apostle say, "hold fast the form of 
sound words which thou hast heard of 
me." (2 Timothy i.) If you would be 
effectually benefited by what you re- 
ceive, you must take some pains to 
hold it. You must cease trifling with 
the messages of God. You must no 
longer dishonour them by putting them 
on a level with your every-day read- 
ing and hearing of common things. 
You must look that what has been im- 
parted to you is safe ; safe when you 
go where you know it is most exposed ; 
safe when scepticism would steal it, or 
the pursuits of the world crowd it out; 
or the persecutions of the world tor- 
ture it from you ; or your own indif- 
ference cause you to forget that you 



116 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

ever possessed it. The keeping of the 
good and honest heart is the custody 
which a good and honest trustee takes 
of what is put into his hands for a 
profitable use. This is your steward- 
ship. The Lord, the divine proprietor, 
will reckon with you; and whether 
your talents have been one, or five, or 
ten, he will inquire not simply whether 
you have kept what was committed to 
you, but whether you kept it for the 
use contemplated. No course is hon- 
est that does not hold this responsibil- 
ity in view. The proof of the honesty 
lies in the result. " Having heard the 
word, they keep it, and bring forth 
fruit with patience." The practical 
evidence of the power of the word is 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 117 

the patient production of its proper 
fruit. It must " increase" as well as 
" spring up/' and this increase, though 
not the same in all individuals, is yet 
always certain in the view of him who 
is emphatically " the Lord of the har- 
vest" — "some thirty, and some sixty, 
and some an hundred." 

What is the fruit of the word — the 
fruit of the truth — the fruit of the 
Bible? It is an expression for the 
proper effects of the knowledge of 
this divine doctrine when faithfully 
received. The fruit of education in 
school, of training in a profession, of 
apprenticeship to a trade — the fruit of 
reading, of study, of application is 
understood to be that result which 



118 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

answers to the nature and object of 
what was received in the several in- 
stances. It is never thought in these 
cases that the end is gained because 
the process is over. In each case it is 
the sowing of seed — sowing in order 
to fruit. But the idea of religion held 
by some seems not to extend be} r ond 
the receiving of the truth. They ap- 
pear to regard Christianity as consist- 
ing wholly in believing the Bible. 
Their religion consists in reading the 
Bible, and in attendance upon religious 
services — following the routine of re- 
ceiving the word. But this is all 
sowing — all seed-time. The fruit of 
the word is what the Scriptures so 
expressively call the doing of the word. 






THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 119 

u Whosoever heareth these sayings of 
mine and doeth them." " Every one 
that heareth these sayings of mine and 
doeth them not." (Matt, vii.) "Be 
ye doers of the word, and not hear- 
ers only, deceiving your ownselves." 
(James i.) If the word says "love 
your enemies : do good to all men ; 
pray without ceasing; if any man will 
come after me, let him deny himself, 
and take up his cross daily, and follow 
me" — it is not the reading, receiving 
and believing of this that is the fruit; 
but the fruit is seen, and only then, 
when the reader, receiver and believer 
loves his enemy; when he does the 
actual good ; when he cherishes the 
spirit and often performs the acts of 



120 THE SOWER AKD THE SEED. 

prayer and praise; when he refrains 
from this thing that he knows to be 
injurious to his piet}~, and does that 
which is contrary to his natural dis- 
position, and so mortifies the fleshly 
mind. This is fruit: this is the spring- 
ing and increasing of Bible-seed : this 
is more than the reading and the 
church-going; this is the rendering of 
the heart according to what it has 
received. 

The fruitfulness of nature is steady 
in its progress. " First the blade, then 
the ear, then the full corn in the ear." 
And the fruitfulness of the word is 
not an occasional outbreak of goodness, 
soon subsiding ; a flaming forth of zeal, 
soon to die out; one fruitful season 






THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 121 

and then coldness and sterility. Our 

Lord characterizes Christian fruitful- 

ness by patience : " they bring forth 

fruit with patience." This must mean 

an unwearied perseverance in the works 

of religion. The practical believer is 

not worn out by a little labour, or 

discouraged by a few disappointments. 

Godliness is his life. The good works 

of faith and holiness are his habit. 

The glory of the Father, of the Son, 

and of the Holy Ghost, is his chief 

end. It is enough for the earth to be 

annual in its harvests. They are the 

results of annual labour. But the truth 

of God, and the rational soul of the 

creature, are in perpetual life, and in 

perpetual capacity of imparting and 
11 



122 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

receiving influence, and working it out. 
The human character is not a tempor- 
ary, or periodical matter. The inquisi- 
tion for its moral standing is always 
going on. It cannot meet its responsi- 
bilities by occasional parades of good 
appearances. Those who seek in the 
right way for glory and honour and 
immortality, do it "by patient con- 
tinuance in w T ell doing." (Rom. ii.) 
Even "the husbandman" who "wait- 
eth for the precious fruit of the earth, 
and hath long patience for it, until 
he receive the early and latter rain," 
(James v.) does not intermit all labour 
and watchfulness, because the seed is 
in its place. How much more necessary 
is such continuance w 7 hen the growth 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 123 

is dependent on no natural means ! 
They were Jews who believed on him, 
to whom Christ said, " if ye continue in 
my word, then are ye my disciples 
indeed." (John viii.) They were prose- 
lytes to Christianity whom Paul and 
Barnabas persuaded to continue in the 
grace of God. (Acts xiii.) This con- 
tinuance is often made the condition 
of a promised blessing: "If ye con- 
tinue in the faith grounded and set- 
tled" (Col. i.) "If they continue in 
faith, and charity, and holiness, with 
sobriety." (1 Tim. ii.) It was because 
Israel continued not in the covenant, 
that the Lord forsook them. (Ileb. 
viii.) It is against the unsteady, unper- 
severing Christian, that the expostula- 



124 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

tion is aimed, "ye did run well; who 
did hinder you that ye should not obey 
the truth?" (Gal. v.) Many may trace 
their want of improvement under the 
means of grace, to this simple cause. 
They had not patience under the divine 
methods of preparing and cultivating 
their hearts. They would not " hope 
and quietly wait for the salvation of 
the Lord," (Lam. ih\) in the humble, 
penitent course of duty. They would 
not try that test, "if any man will do 
his will he shall know of the doctrine, 
whether it be of God." (John vii.) 
They wait and hope for some other 
mode of assurance, than just the simple, 
reasonable way of doing what is direct- 
ed and continuing to do it. In all 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 125 

applications the exhortation is suitable, 
u be not weary in well doing." 

The last mark of the good ground is 
the abundance of the fruit. It is not 
scanty — it is many-fold. The least 
in the parable is thirty-fold. An hun- 
dred-fold is implied as not too much to 
be expected. All do not attain the 
maximum : but all make advance upon 
their first condition. All have some- 
thing to show for what they have 
received. No allowance was made for 
the character, in another parable, who 
laid up his master's money and buried 
it and restored it undiminished. He 
was denounced as an unprofitable ser- 
vant. (Matt. xxv. 30.) The condemn- 
ation is not — You have not produced 



126 THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

an hundred-fold and are therefore 
accounted as having done nothing; 
but the test is, Are your progress and 
your work according to your opportu- 
nities ? Is it only thirty, when it might 
have been sixty, or only sixty when 
it might have been an hundred ? Have 
you the maturity of piety, the fullness 
of graces, the completeness of character, 
which may be justly expected of you, 
considering what, and how long con- 
tinued, have been your advantages ? 
Have you done — are you doing — ac- 
cording to your "several ability?" 
The fruit of the seed is the effect of 
the blessing of the Holy Ghost on the 
proper use of the word. Take those 
fruits according to the enumeration of 






THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 127 

them in the Scripture itself, and judge 
of your " love, joy, peace, long-suffering, 
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 
temperance;" (Gal. v.) or as elsewhere 
comprehended under the three heads 
of goodness, righteousness, and truth; 
(Eph. v.) or as described in another 
place, "filled with the knowledge of" 
the divine "will in all wisdom, and 
spiritual understanding, that ye might 
walk worthy of the Lord unto all 
pleasing, being fruitful in every good 
work, and increasing in the knowledge 
of God ; strengthened with all might, 
according to his glorious power, unto 
all patience and long-suffering, with 
joy fulness." (Col. i.) 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: July 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



376 

,5 



